Decontaminant dispensing equipment was formerly developed solely for the dispensing of a particular decontaminant, rather than multiple different decontaminants, a fact which severely limited the ability of one military or civil service to work jointly with another, due to issues of incompatibility. For example, large scale decontaminant dispensing systems were not designed with the capability of discharging fire suppressant foams.
The area coverage of CBRN decontaminant dispensing equipment—i.e., the area to which CBRN decontaminants or fire-suppressants could be effectively deployed by particular pieces of equipment—has also been limited by the size (more particularly the surface area, or “foot print” effectively occupied by such equipment) of the mechanical device. This was mainly due to the large capacity of liquid required when using the dispensing units.
In view of the foregoing shortcoming of prior devices, fire depressant foam is typically dispensed from fire services pump trucks designed solely for that purpose, which are large and heavy vehicles. The mere size and weight of these vehicles inhibits their ability to access many locations which may require their employment.
The limited versatility of prior art devices meant that, for example, removal of radiological particles could be interrupted as systems were shut down to be recharged with the particular decontamination solutions used to trap and pull these particles from where they rested. This increased the chance of these particles being transported to other locations downwind of the contaminated site, and also increased the time required to perform the operation.